Though technology has made banking more convenient, it also comes with an increased risk of more complex online and mobile banking fraud. In the past, customers could receive a one-time PIN (OTP) via SMS or e-mail when they performed an online purchase. Today, however, more robust security enhancement features that help protect customers from fraud are especially instrumental in peak spend periods like Black Friday and the festive season.
In this digital age, fraud scams can come in many forms, including through SMS messages or e-mail. It’s important to be cautious and never share sensitive information, such as your account number, card number, password, or PIN, in response to a text message or e-mail.
Chris Boxall, Head of Card Transact, Industry and Fraud Detection at FNB says, “Legitimate banks will never ask for this information through text, mail, or even social media platforms such as WhatsApp, so if you do receive a message requesting it, it’s fraud. Always verify the source and legitimacy of any requests for personal information before responding.”
“We encourage customers not to click on links from suspicious SMSes, e-mails, or share their private information like OTPs, PINs, or passwords with any third-party whatsoever. We also encourage our customers to minimise using third-party platforms to authenticate transactions and instead do it safely and conveniently on our FNB App through Two-Factor Authentication,” he says.
FNB provides a more secure method of safeguarding your money when making purchases online, through Two-Factor Authentication (2FA), an online secure authentication system that helps merchants or individual customers review and authenticate their online purchases on the FNB App.
“In line with our commitment to empower and safeguard our customers against online shopping fraud, we strongly encourage them to make use of Two-Factor Authentication when making online purchases. This will protect cardholders against the unauthorised use of their FNB cards for online purchases while also protecting e-commerce businesses against financial loss from online fraud,” he continues.
FNB’s Smart inContact tool is the bank’s recommended 2FA mechanism which uses smart technology via its banking app to authenticate customers securely. If the customer does not have a banking App or does not respond to the push message to approve their online purchase, they will receive an OTP via SMS and by logging onto online banking messaging. Receiving OTPs via e-mail is discontinued in line with the bank’s strategy for safety measures.
“Mitigating risk continues to be an extremely crucial factor in payments and so we continuously innovate to enhance security in a multi-layered approach. While Two-Factor Authentication is one of the layers we utilise to protect customers from fraud, it is important that they remain vigilant on their account activity and always review what they are authenticating to ensure they are not being de-frauded,” concluded Boxall.
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